Press Release
For more information about Erie Family Health Center, please contact Valerie Comprelli at 312.432.7463 or vcomprelli@eriefamilyhealth.org
Erie Family Health Center Receives the 2009 Award for Performance Measurement from the National Quality Center
August 4, 2009- CHICAGO—The Lending Hands for Life program at Erie Family Health Center has been selected as the winner of the National Quality Center’s 2009 Award for Performance Measurement. “As a program with about 150 patients, we are one of the smaller HIV programs and are honored to be recognized for the high quality care each patient in our program receives,” says Dr. Rachel O’Mara, lead provider of The Lending Hands for Life (LHL) program.
Angela Rogers, Maria Menizabel, Esther Morales, David Velez and Cindy Nguyen
The National Quality Center (NQC) created the Quality of Care Award Program to recognize Ryan White Program grantees, organizations and individuals that have demonstrated outstanding progress in improving the quality of HIV care. NQC aims to acknowledge excellence among Ryan White Program-funded grantees and promote these quality champions to further spread quality improvement. The NQC, a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau, recognizes organizations that have made exceptional improvements in the quality of HIV care in the following four categories: Performance Measurement, Quality Improvement Activities, Quality Management Infrastructure Development and Leadership in Quality.
For 2009, Erie won the Award for Performance Measurement for its outstanding efforts with The Lending Hands for Life program. This award honors Erie for significantly strengthening its ability to measure the quality of HIV care and demonstrating a strong ability to collect and share data. “This award shows that we have the clinical and Quality Improvement (QI) leaders within Erie who can put theory into practice. They measure, they make a plan to improve a challenging issue, and then they measure again, “says Dr. Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center. “Building on 20 years of our program, we have shown even more fantastic results under new leadership in just the past three years.”
In 2007 Dr. Rachel O’Mara became the director of The Lending Hands for Life (LHL) program and has vastly improved the program’s performance measurement tools. The development of accurate, innovative, user-friendly performance measurement tools has significantly advanced the LHL program’s ability to provide first rate care. “Our team is approaching quality improvement in just the right way,” says Dr. Francis. “By using accurate clinical data directly from the patient’s record, the LHL staff is taking steps to improve care. Then they measure again and see the results. It’s a great model that we are already applying to our other clinical programs at Erie.”
The participation of every LHL team member in the development and execution of the quality management and improvement program reflects commitment to excellent clinical care. “This award is important because it recognizes the change in quality of care our patients receive and I consider it a template for larger programs within Erie to make quality changes,” says Dr. O’Mara.
Dr. O’Mara will be invited to Washington D.C. on September 25 to receive the award.
